It’s Easter 1997 and, although they haven’t been in the same room together for 17 years, they’re gathering at the opulent family home to celebrate and resume hostilities.
The occasion is the 75th birthday of the remote and rather cruel William (played with icy precision by Jonathan Hyde).
Richard Stirling and Chris Larkin in The Gathered Leaves. (Image: Rich Southgate) His wife Olivia (a marvellous, balanced performance from Joanne Pearce) is anxious but determined that the weekend should go well and tries to calm fraying nerves and defuse re-emerging grudges.
William has been disappointed by his three children – the estranged, wild-spirited Alice (Olivia Vinall) who turns up with her mixed race daughter Aurelia (Taneetrah Porter).
Chris Larkin’s Giles is her elder brother, a doctor, married to the prickly and deeply unhappy Sophie. (Zoe Waites).
The play opens with their younger selves (Joe Burrell and Ellis Elijah making deeply impressive stage debuts) playing out a game of Dr Who.
Samuel has written it and becomes angry and frustrated when his brother deviates even slightly from the script. The young Giles displays a calm patience that he brings into adulthood.
Over the play’s 150 minutes, the audience is given access to the intimacy of their relationship and the different way that Samuel experiences the world.
Richard Stirling’s portrayal of the joys and deep frustration of being autistic is one of London’s performances of the year.
His attention to absolute detail, his extraordinary memory, how he tends to take things literally, his brutal honesty and his occasional (sometimes frightening) crises are all supported with love and tenderness by Giles.
The drama is awash with ancient feuds, resentments and fragile relationships but former RSC artistic director Adrian Noble brilliantly combines pace with space for reflection – and unlocks a great deal of humour,
Andrew Keatley’s drama is a poignant plea for accepting people on their own terms, the only quibble is that William’s rather formal announcement of his dementia diagnosis and its impact feels underexplored.
But The Park audience offered a longstanding ovation in appreciation of a quality cast that did not contain a single weak link.
The Gathered Leaves runs at Park Theatre in Finsbury Park until September 20. www.parktheatre.co.uk
